This is good news for sports readers who have attention spans longer than 30 seconds.
NBC’s move follows the trend of other sites realizing there is a market for long-form journalism. Well-written stories always work regardless of the platform.
Judging by the fact that Joe Posnanski has two stories for the launch, the site will be a place for him to showcase his talents.
The details from NBC:
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NBC Sports Digital announced today that it is launching NBC SportsWorld, a new micro-site within NBCSports.com dedicated to long-form storytelling. The new site will launch on October 15 and will be populated with compelling long-form stories, essays, short films and documentaries, including select archived Olympic video. The announcement was made by Rick Cordella, SVP & GM, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group.
Named after NBC Sports’ television program in the 1980s, which featured global content from a variety of sports properties, NBC SportsWorld will be the home of exclusive long-form pieces from NBC Sports Digital’s contributors, including award-winning writer Joe Posnanski, Joe Prince-Wright of ProSoccerTalk, and Nick Zaccardi of OlympicTalk. In addition, contributions to NBC SportsWorld will come from writers at NBC Sports Group’s vast array of properties, including the NBC Sports Regional Networks, such as CSN Bay Area’s Ray Ratto; GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard, Randall Mell and Jason Sobel; and RotoWorld.
The site will also house documentaries and video features produced by the Emmy Award-winning NBC Olympics and Golf Channel Films divisions. At launch, NBC SportsWorld will house:
Nancy & Tonya, in which Mary Carillo looks back at the events surrounding the ladies’ figure skating competition at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games with an exclusive sit-down with Nancy Kerrigan and a one-on-one interview with Tonya Harding.
Lokomotiv, narrated by Liev Schreiber, which chronicles the tragic events surrounding the crash of an airplane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), killing 44 of 45 people on board, including 37 players, coaches and staff.
Long Way Home: The Jessica Long Story, which profiles Russian-born Jessica Long, a world-class swimmer and 12-time Paralympic gold medalist, who was adopted by American parents as she journeys from the States to Siberia to meet her birth family.
Arnie, which showcases how golfing legend Arnold Palmer revolutionized and transcended the game to become one of the most beloved figures in sports history.
Payne, the story of how golf champion Payne Stewart lived, from the early days when his father guided and influenced him, his first Ryder Cup win, and the tragic end to his life in a lonely field in South Dakota.
“Our SportsTalk strategy of providing readers with quick, impactful news posts multiple times a day has been incredibly successful. However, we will now complement that plan by tapping into NBC Sports Group’s rich history of long-form storytelling,” said Cordella. “NBC SportsWorld will create an immersive experience for our users with deep, thoughtful multimedia pieces written and produced by our talented roster of contributors from all facets of the NBC Sports Group.”
Planned content for NBC SportsWorld’s launch also includes:
Joe Posnanski has an exclusive, in-depth discussion with Dale Earnhardt Jr. about his life, career and relationship with his father, as he celebrates his 40th Birthday.
In advance of Sunday night’s 49ers-Broncos game, CSN Bay Area Senior Insider Ray Ratto connects the dots from Joe Montana and John Elway to Colin Kapernick and Peyton Manning.
Joe Posnanski travels with the Royals from California to Baltimore to get the inside story on their unlikely postseason run.
Joe Prince-Wright profiles Bob Bradley after spending time in Norway with the former U.S. Men’s National Team and current Stabaek (Norwegian first division) coach to get a sense of his most recent and ambitious challenge, becoming the first American head coach of a European top-flight club.
In order to stay up to date with all of the latest features and videos on NBC SportsWorld, users can subscribe to a weekly newsletter published each Friday recapping the previous week’s content. Readers can also follow NBC SportsWorld on Facebook and Twitter.